Pours a nice dark tawny with a fleeting sheet of light tan foam. Smells sweet and rich. Lots of nougat, vanilla, toasted malts and a bit of turbinado. Taste was dark malt, nutty brown character, some oak, a bunch more vanilla, some cocoa (really faint), plenty of oxidized malts and a good leathery tone. Medium on full bodied with a watery feel from the seemingly lower carbonation. Happy to have had it, wouldn't probably search for it again. (496 characters)

I sampled this for the first time at a craft brewfest in 2012.Goose island said they recently recovered some bourbon casks they had misplaced and this was in them, aging for 6 years instead of the usual 8 months, in the casks. Yes this was batched in 2006.

Wow. I felt bad with every sip that I was depriving the world of tasting this nectar but like that last dorito in the bag, it was impossible to resist it.

Very smooth and dozens of flavours delivering bourbon like an irish car bomb wrapped in a psychedelic amazing techicolour dreamcoat.

I tried other bourbon stouts and they were not in the same ball park. In fact, this one almost ruined the beer show for me because nothing compared to it.

Edit: I forgot to mention that according to goose island, I killed the last sip. This no longer exists in their possession.Sorry! (837 characters)

A nice little surprise found its way on tap in front of me. Pours a clear dark brown with a thinnish off white head that quickly dissipated. Wow that's got some bourbon going on in the nose! Hints of sweet caramel and a chocolate try to round out the aroma but this is quite the bourbon bomb. Flavor is what you expect brown sugar and caramel malts layer underneath a mountain of oak and sweet bourbon. Long lingering alcohol burn long after every sip. Medium body with a light level of carbonation and a sweet and hot kind of mouthfeel. This is definitely a d sipper, but I could see myself enjoying this on a cold winter night. (629 characters)

caramel colored pour with a light head of off white that caps it off rather nicely. Settling down it left a little bit of a light sticky lace along the sides. Aroma was the best I have ever come across. Rich toffee and butterscotch, tons of sweet nectar notes. Candy in all its glory. Perfectly aged with a smooth, perfect profile of vanilla, toffee, and rich butterscotch that will not let up. Rich bourbon flavor just rolls across the palate with a smoothness unlike anything I have run across before. Rich vanilla and boozy notes combine to form a perfect balance of rich sweet notes and oak soaked barrel (608 characters)

Pours a deep dark chestnut brown color that's completely opaque with a two finger frothy off-white head. Great retention only slowly fading into a lasting cap. The glass is left coated with rings and chunks of lacing.

Sweet malt aroma with a prominent barrel presence. Lots of earthy oak and bourbon as wel as some vanilla and toasted coconut. Slightly vinous as well with dark fruit notes. Underneath, the sweet malts are evident with chocolate and caramel.

Medium bodied with some soft carbonation up front and a strong barrel character. Lots of toasted oak/wood as well as some prominent vanilla. The bourbon flavor is there but not as powerful as I expected. Sweet bourbon flavor but it's well integrated into the beer. Kind of refreshing to taste something that's not a complete bourbon bomb. Underneath the barrel, the base beer makes itself known. Sweet chocolate and caramel notes give off sweetness that compliment the bourbon. Nice alcohol flavor without any heat. Extremely drinkable. (1,031 characters)

Big thanks goes out to my boy aasher for sharing this one at the Down South Beer Tasting while he was in town to visit! Massive thanks Al! Served from bottle into a Mikkeller taster flute. Poured red brown with a minimal off-white head. Maintained excellent lacing throughout the glass. The aroma was comprised of sweet malt, caramel, wood, sweet alcohol, and a subtle metallic note. The flavor was of sweet malt, caramel, wood, sweet alcohol, and toffee. It had a light feel on the palate with mild carbonation. Overall this was a pretty good brew. This beer had definitely held up quite well over the past 5 years or so since being bottled. The aroma and flavor on this one screams barrel aging; and a well done one at that. All of the components of this one worked extremely well together to enhance one another while not overpowering another. Glad I got the opportunity to try this one Al and thanks again! (910 characters)

750 mL foil-wrapped and capped bottle from 2006 into a Portsmouth tulip. Enormous thanks to Rempo for knocking off this longtime want of mine.

Pours a deep brown, with plum highlights. Though initially quite dark, as my glass emptied the beer appeared almost translucent, like a spirit. Two-finger light tan head with very tight bubble and absolutely remarkable retention given that this is a five year old bottle. Very nice soapy lacing all over my glass. A beautiful beer.

There is a ton of bourbon right up front in the nose. The -bal character is very assertive, and in addition to alcohol phenols there is a very pronounced woody aroma. Underneath, there is a very strong apple character - actually, it smells quite a but like apple juice. Some plums, toffee, and holiday spices fill in the picture.

The barrel thoroughly dominates the base beer. The bourbon in Imperial Brown Goose is almost entirely unadulterated, to the point that this is very, very similar to drinking straight bourbon. That said, there's not a huge alcohol burn, but a fusel note is certainly there. Apart from the rich wood and alcohol, there is a pretty prominent sweetness. Dark fruits and caramel come through, as does a lingering taste of indeterminate spices. Some brown sugar as well.

Mouthfeel is a little thin and also a bit overcarbonated. Something more syrupy and a little more still would be ideal.

A very unique beer and a delicious one at that, though I can't imagine what this tasted like fresh. That the bourbon is still so present in this beer after five years of cellaring is almost unbelievable. Though I usually find this level of barrel-dominance to be a fault in beers, in this case it just works. This held up excellently, and I'd imagine it has yet to peak. (1,767 characters)

I've been wanting to try this forever. My fiance bought it for me for my birthday. I shared it during the South Carolina tasting.

It pours a light bodied chestnut brown in color with a light beige lacing. It smells of toffee, vanilla, has a light nuttiness, and also features caramel. It drinks really smoothly and has a slight bourbon aspect in after taste. It features light vanilla, chocolate, coffee and barrel. I'm impressed, I didn't expect it to hold up this well. Everything is so well integrated. I love it. It drinks light and for a beer of this consistency it has the perfect amount of bourbon. Overall this is a very nice beer but no old ale. (655 characters)

O: Age has treated this one really well (although I never had it fresh, of course), as this was definitely one of the softest, most delicate, most balanced, and easiest-drinking bourbon barrel beers I've ever had. The barrel is the dominant component of this brew's flavor, and yet there's nary a hint of booze, astringency, or harshness of any kind. Delightful.

Poured dark brown with an average frothy brown head that mostly lasted with good lacing. Heavy toasted malt, wood, bourbon and cherry with a small alcohol aroma. Medium to full body with a smooth texture and flat carbonation. Heavy bourbon woody and vanilla flavor with a heavy bourbon bittersweet finish of moderate to long duration. This is a standout beer. (359 characters)

Pour is a hazy light brown color with a nice head atop. Smell is a really nice combination of caramel, brown sugar, toffee and bourbon/whiskey. A nice swirl really brings this out. The taste is like the nose - a nice, light caramel, brown sugar and toffee carried through in a brown ale body and mixed up with a touch of spices and big bourbon/whiskey flavor. After several years, you still get hit pretty good with the barrel flavor, which is maybe a touch too boozy, but still really nice. My only complaint about this beer is that it that either the base beer is a touch too thin both in body (and a bit over carbonated) and flavor to support what it is trying to be, or time has taken this beer down just a notch. Overall, it is a really nice package and a cool delivery of a barrel-aged beer that isn't really like most that you get to try. (860 characters)

Pour is cloudy and light coffee brown with a large but quickly dissipating head. Smell is excellent, caramel and whiskey with notes of honey and brown sugar and a hint of alcohol. Taste is similar, leading off with maple sugar and finishing with a dry, almost astringent note and a touch more alcohol heat. Mouthfeel is initially lacking, suffering from some overcarbonation that is mitigated by a few swirls in the glass and mellows out to a frothy texture.

Would love to sit on a bottle of this for even longer and see where that caramel note is going, but it tastes great now. (624 characters)

Appearance: The pour quickly carbonates out of the bottle. In the glass, the color is a mostly clear maple color with a huge bubbly off-white head. Great retention and a little bit of lace on the glass.

Smell: A great strong bourbon aroma dominates, but the Christmas spices, oak, and sweet caramel malt are there as well.

Taste: Great taste up front. Sweet malt, oak, and bourbon up front. The bourbon dominates but allows the Christmas Ale to come through with the spices. No real hoppy character due to the age.

Mouthfeel: The carbonation is fully and bubbly. It feels like there are large exploding bubbles in my mouth. Somewhat smooth and creamy, but the bubbly carbonation is the most noticeable. A little bit of bourbon touches the throat and warms the stomach. Actually a little bit light feeling -- bourbon plus a lighter bodied base beer will do that.

Drinkability: I definitely like this better than the Christmas Ale. Probably cost-prohibitive to regularly drink at this point, though. (1,050 characters)

750 mL foiled and capped bottle - very nice presentation - courtesy of a BA whose name is memorialized in a now dead excel spreadsheet, lost to the ages. Whoever you once were, many, many thanks. 2006 vintage (the only vintage) and the perfect beer for the first white Christmas in Georgia in 128 years (for several reasons), this one was poured in to a large snifter.

Appearance: Pours a rusty cocoa auburn, deeply hued, opaque at the center but readily translucent at the edges. The transparency reveals a massive amount of carbonation, relatively fine but not pinpoint, emanating from every side of the snifter and racing upwards. The carbonation was foretold by the extremely audible hiss that rose from the bottle upon the breaking of the seal, but I didn't expect it to be this ferocious. Nonetheless, it works, largely because it helps elevate and replenish what is a very attractive head. Lightly beige, the two finger crown slowly fades to a creamy, meringue-like collar that slopes up the sides of the snifter from a uniform, solid, thick surface dusting, all being constantly replenished by the torrent of carbonation below.

Aroma: An incredibly odd aroma. It's almost tart, wine-like in places, full of tannins and woods. There's a definite orange juice-like note that floats along above this one, particularly when it's still rather cold - perhaps from the earthyness of the wood mingling with yeast esters. Giving this one time to warm will yield some rewards, at least, if you like bourbon. Spicy, slightly solventy, and sweet, the rye is a little more prominent here than in the mouth, rising above a faint underpinning of toffee and toasted nuts in a pleasant but admittedly pretty strong showing.

Taste: An interesting take. The base beer is definitely a brown ale, and doesn't provide nearly the same accompanying to barrel aging as does, say, a barleywine or a RIS. So if you like bourbon, this beer is for you ... not because it has more bourbon, per se, but instead because the balance is struck completely differently. The base beer is decidedly balanced in sweetness - hints of toffee and caramel blend with light toast. It's a little glassy, and suggestive of dark fruits without ever actually evidencing them (cherry is just outside of my taste periphery), but wonderfully nutty, rich, full of almonds and toasted pecans and slight festive spice notes. The combination of the nuts and the caramelized sugar here (perhaps in combination with the bourbon) is suggestive of the best kind of pecan pie, if you know what I mean. The bourbon barrel aging adds quite the intense element. It's smooth and mature, likely both because of the length of the aging as well as because of the age of this bottle (4 years or so now). Sweet and mellow, with a slight kiss of spice and very little heat - only a nice, faded warmth - it melds beautifully with a ton of toasted oak notes and a few kisses of coconut. Vanilla is present but an afterthought. The bourbon grows stronger as this one warms, unsurprisingly, and is particularly evident in the finish. Indeed, the end of this beer is pure bourbon, sweet and cut only ever so slightly.

Mouthfeel: What made this beer so attractive also pretty thoroughly disrupts the mouth. An already moderately bodied beer has been thinned further by the spirit addition (enough to raise it from 5.6% to 9%!), and the high carbonation makes for a bit of a rough ride. Exploding, eruptive, erratic, excited effervescence disrupts the even smoothness that you usually want out of a barrel aged beer, though it's perhaps less of a problem here, given the flavor notes of the base beer. That is, you don't expect creamy smoothness from a nutty brown ale, so when you don't get it, it's not quite as disappointing as it could be. It gets much nicer as the carbonation slowly begins to fade, so perhaps crack this one and let it sit open a little while as it warms to allow the carbonation time to dissipate.

Drinkability: As an aside, one of the things that's always amazed me about Goose Island is how much liquor they manage to coax out of their barrels. Night Stalker starts at 11%, but is 13%+ when it comes out in the form of BCS? The Christmas Ales are 5.6, and then nearly double after a while in the barrels to form this beer? Oy! But I digress.

This beer was good. Not great, but good. If you like straight bourbon, you'll be more a fan of it than if your only experience with the aforementioned is in the form of barrel aged beers. At 9%, I can't complain too much about the drinkability in terms of alcohol content, though I will note if for others who find this prohibitively high. All in all, this was a fairly flavorful sipper of a brew that was perfect for Christmas Day - definitely one to be respected, but over the course of three hours while watching "Elf," it hit the spot. (4,849 characters)

2006 bottle. Got this from MrFootstones, thanks a bunch, Brian! This bottle was a Christmas present for my girlfriend, which she got early. She was nice enough to open it tonight and share it with me :) Poured into my darkness snifter:

A - Black/dark brown with a huge amount of head. Creamy white head that dies down eventually but sticks around for a while. Pretty suprised with the carbonation since this is almost 5 years old. Would have given this a 4.25 but I rounded down this time.

S - The smooth bourbon is upfront. Both barrels are united in quite a deliciously smooth dance. Brown sugar is top smell, followed by earth and oak barrel. Butter scotch and nice creamy candy follow along the way. Just great!

M - I'm really suprised that this is soooo carbonated for a beer almost 5 years old, which is slightly the downside for me. Although it is nice that it is carbonated, it is sort of fizzy carbonated and distracts from the smooth bourbon presence that I wanted to feel in the mouth. After the fizz subsides, the smooth, velvety feel sets in and finishes very nicely. But the carbonation...wow!

D - Way to easy to drink. I had this on tap at Busters in the cities a month ago and thought it was crazy awesome...and so did my girlfriend. I just had to get myself a bottle, and thanks to Brian I had the chance to try it again. It's a solid brew and I wish I had more. I'll seek it out again, but it's slightly hard to find. Delicious! (1,641 characters)

I wanted to try this for so long, then I heard it was getting kind of crappy.... so I didn't really want to try it. But I was all over it when the Goose Island rep brought it out at Des Moines Brew Fest. Pours a deep reddish brown with a good head that leaves a lace and has a good retention. The aroma is nutty with some bourbon, some molasses, some iodine, and some chocolate. The flavor has some cherry, some bourbon, and a lightly tart character. The beer is earthy and woody with notes of chocolate and port with some mild spiciness. Turned out to be pretty good! (568 characters)

Thanks to johnbjaeger for the opportunity to try this one. 750ml bottle served in a chalice. Pours a hazy chestnut with a cream/frothy, tan-colored head that disperses into a thick skim across the surface with a large dollop in the center. Some slashes of lacing evident during the tasting. Nose is fantastic on this one. Bourbon and buttery notes, with molasses and maple syrup expressing itself as the brew warms. Taste consistent with nose; however, not quite as bold. There's also an earthy and woody quality that comes out in the flavor profile. Mouthfeel is medium-light in consistency with a lively, albeit overly assertive, carbonation. I've been wanting to try this beer for a while and I was not disappointed. Unfortunately, the carbonation is a little too aggressive and detracts from the overall experience. Nonetheless, a very drinkable Old Ale. (858 characters)

To those holding a bottle of this, crack it now!!! It is fading fast!!!

A - It pours a thin hardwood brown, like iced tea, with just a bit of very short-lived tan froth from the hard pour.

S - Great barrel aromas remain, but the base beer is faded. Still, I pick up nice cinnamon-mulled impressions, and some of the booze aromas strengthen/enhance the maltiness. Mostly I get mild Bourbon aroma, very mild, fused with a very pale (barely roasted) barley.

T - The taste is just as the nose suggests... The potential for this beer to be - as good as it gets - does exist. But I feel like this is missing segments of flavor due to the negative effects of time. The malt is fairly faded, and has not become rich or toffee-ish or dark-fruity, it has become simply faded and less impactful on the whole. The barrel has faded, too. And more than I would like. At this point, it is like a mellow whisky-tinged English Brown Ale.

2006 bottle shared by airohead2001. The oldest beer I have had to date.

A: Dark brown in color and mahogany when held up to the light. The beer pours with a 2.5 finger head that is off-white in color and has excellent retention and lacing. I was really surprised by the amount of carbonation in this.

S: There's some bourbon on the nose as expected, but the thing that came through pretty strongly for me that was quite unexpected was cherry pie. It wasn't the smell of sour cherries as in some sours, but was quite interesting none the less. Also a little bit of caramel can be found at the finish.

T: Very good flavors, but not as intense as I would have liked. There is definitely some bourbon up front. Then throughout the drink I notice some wheat/graham cracker, and a little bit of dark fruit.

M: A light bodied beer that has a fairly high level of carbonation. Still, it sits on the tongue well and has a wonderful aftertaste.

D: Incredibly drinkable. Goes down super easy as it's fairly light, the alcohol is undetectable and the flavors are clean, crisp, interesting, complex, and deep. A very unique beer and really unlike anything I've tried before. To me, this was almost a cross between a bourbon barrel barleywine and a good hefeweizen, which I know sounds kind of gross, but it actually turned out really well. (1,331 characters)

Wanted to try this one for a long time. Made the decision to pick up this $30 bottle from Lush on Halsted on the way home from a White Sox game in the beginning of summer. Enough about baseball, bring on the Hawks - defend your chalice, 2010 Stanley Cup Champions! Split with glazeman.

A - Dark brown with a massive 4 finger gray head that eventually fades to a 1/4 finger head with excellent retention. Nice thick lacing coats the walls of the snifter.

S - Bourbon, overripe dark fruits, touch of vanilla, and slight citrus hops and malts through out. Smells similar to a bourbon barleywine, but not quite as good.

T - Pretty unique. Nutty vanilla, bourbon, and bitter hops with the finish. Very sweet, but nice. The bourbon doesn't overpower the drink, but rather is a sweet introduction to the roasty malts and bitter hops that follow.

M - Slightly syrupy, but yet thin - almost watery towards the end. Not really what you're looking for in a barrel aged brew.

D - For a barrel aged beer, drinkability is really where this beer shines. The 4 years in the bottle has really mellowed the heat on this. No burn at all. Perfect. (1,135 characters)